Straw Poll. How much food do you have in reserve? How well do you stock rotate?

[Medusa]

Thanks for the link GillyBee. I have seen smoking sheds which people have built which look great. Will save as another resource for the future.

[mcprepper]

And after that huge post last night I have just found this website which covers everything in detail. I am now off to download the contents to local storage.
https://eatcuredmeat.com/

That link was useful, thanks, I’ve printed it off for future reference. Appreciate your long post explaining it all too. Now I just need some time to have a go!

[GillyBee]

I found another useful link yesterday - and have finally started another batch of bacon using the belly pork that was lurking in my freezer.
https://www.uaf.edu/ces/publications/da ... -fails.php

I was browsing around the temperatures to see how this could work safely in a power outage.
You need fridge level temperatures for the first salting stage and some curing salt adds a lot to the safety. I think a batch of semi defrosted food in a cold box/freezer an unheated winter room would meet the sub 4C stage.
Then it is on to drying. 10-15C and a draught is the recommended for this. My bacon is small pieces so I cheat and use the fridge for everyday although that is officially too dry. My heated flat would not be cool enough but with no heating on we would soon have some rooms that met the criteria - or I could set up a meat safe in the garden for winter use.
Summer is harder. Even those meats that start with a hot fermentation stage like chorizo are soon moved to a cool (10C) cellar to dry. I am off to check out vinegar pickles for meat for warm weather now. I know soused herring is a thing so what about soused beef or turkey?

[Frnc]

Koka noodles. Box of 30 for about £13-18. Not the healthiest food, but tasty and only needs hot water. I've tried vegetable and mushroom flavours, just ordered some spicy stir fry, which are also vegetarian. Vegetable are the most expensive at about £18 at the moment, the other two are about £13

[jennyjj01]

Koka noodles. Box of 30 for about £13-18. Not the healthiest food, but tasty and only needs hot water. I've tried vegetable and mushroom flavours, just ordered some spicy stir fry, which are also vegetarian. Vegetable are the most expensive at about £18 at the moment, the other two are about £13

FRNC:
That's pretty good for about 50p per portion. Cheaper than pot noodle.

Do those Koka noodles come as plain noodles with a flavouring sachet? Is there much difference between unflavoured noodles?

What I'm wondering is whether we can stock up on the basic flavourings and then add those flavourings to basic ( cheap) noodles.
My very limited knowledge of noodles is that at £1 for a 5 pack from B&M, they are up amongst the very cheapest prep meal components. Those super cheap noodles come with two tiny sachets, which I suspect are mostly MSG.

Noodles: 20p : Sprinkle of sweetcorn or peas: 5p : Stock cube or similar : 10p = Feast for one.

[ForgeCorvus]

I found another useful link yesterday - and have finally started another batch of bacon using the belly pork that was lurking in my freezer.
https://www.uaf.edu/ces/publications/da ... -fails.php

I was browsing around the temperatures to see how this could work safely in a power outage.
You need fridge level temperatures for the first salting stage and some curing salt adds a lot to the safety. I think a batch of semi defrosted food in a cold box/freezer an unheated winter room would meet the sub 4C stage.
Then it is on to drying. 10-15C and a draught is the recommended for this. My bacon is small pieces so I cheat and use the fridge for everyday although that is officially too dry. My heated flat would not be cool enough but with no heating on we would soon have some rooms that met the criteria - or I could set up a meat safe in the garden for winter use.
Summer is harder. Even those meats that start with a hot fermentation stage like chorizo are soon moved to a cool (10C) cellar to dry. I am off to check out vinegar pickles for meat for warm weather now. I know soused herring is a thing so what about soused beef or turkey?

This is why traditional pig-killing season is late autumn, cool weather and fewer flies. Not a task for winter as the carcass will freeze if left.

[Frnc]

Koka noodles. Box of 30 for about £13-18. Not the healthiest food, but tasty and only needs hot water. I've tried vegetable and mushroom flavours, just ordered some spicy stir fry, which are also vegetarian. Vegetable are the most expensive at about £18 at the moment, the other two are about £13

FRNC:
That's pretty good for about 50p per portion. Cheaper than pot noodle.

Do those Koka noodles come as plain noodles with a flavouring sachet? Is there much difference between unflavoured noodles?

What I'm wondering is whether we can stock up on the basic flavourings and then add those flavourings to basic ( cheap) noodles.
My very limited knowledge of noodles is that at £1 for a 5 pack from B&M, they are up amongst the very cheapest prep meal components. Those super cheap noodles come with two tiny sachets, which I suspect are mostly MSG.

Noodles: 20p : Sprinkle of sweetcorn or peas: 5p : Stock cube or similar : 10p = Feast for one.

The veg comes with 2 sachets, one powder, one oil. The mushroom has one, powder, larger I think. I don't know if the noodles are the same as plain or have some flavour on their own. They are tasty anyway, and of course a cheap long life food that needs no cooking. I simmer them for 2 minutes, but I noticed last night the instructions for the spicey stir fry version I was ordering said pour hot water on and leave for 2 minutes. So you don't even need a saucepan, if the solid mass will fit in your bowl. I use a small saucepan. If I just cover them, so they float slightly, there's hardly any excess water when I tip them into my bowl.

They come in a long box so you do need space for that. It's easier to keep them in it. I have mine in my bedroom actually, but they could go in the prep room.

They are very salty, but not quite as bad as Nong Shim I think. About 3g, so I don't have them too often. They are quite high in calories, just under 400, so, good for prep.

[mcprepper]

Koka noodles. Box of 30 for about £13-18. Not the healthiest food, but tasty and only needs hot water. I've tried vegetable and mushroom flavours, just ordered some spicy stir fry, which are also vegetarian. Vegetable are the most expensive at about £18 at the moment, the other two are about £13

What is shelf life like on those? Happy to eat well past BB dates but just getting an idea before considering buying online …

[grenfell]

Since answering this thread I’ve been pondering on the question and have come to a conclusion that the question itself is a bit too vague to give a proper answer. This one rather assumes everything else stays pretty much the same and we just stop going out of the house..
As with a lot of things prepping related it all comes down to scenarios and parameters. I said about three months but that could change quite dramatically in different situations. Those three months tend to assume I stay here with my food stocks . If we had to leave we might just be able to load it all in my van but certainly couldn’t take three months worth of water . If on foot then at most I think most people wouldn’t be able to carry much over a few days to a week at most. Lack of power , spread of disease, forced evacuation, refugees incoming to the area and so on could all impact on the answer.

[Nurseandy]

Grenfell's astute observation apart, we have enough for a well fed family of five for a month. Combination of dried goods & tinned meat. We don't tend to rotate stock as such, more a case of if we get snowed in we eat spam wrapped in bacon & fried AKA "apocalypse heart disease" then replace what was used.
We have approx 20 litres of bottled water but are on a private water supply (shared with 3 others & requires electricity for the pump) but also have 100litres in 25 litre containers (tap water but old), two 200l water butts filled from the gutters and possibly potential to get water from some nearby burns. Obvs have sawyer water filters.
Cat food is a shortcoming.